The lawsuit accuses the popular social media site of "shadow-banning conservatives" — including Nunes — while profiting from abusive behavior and language allegedly perpetrated by liberal and left-wing Twitter accounts, including the two apparent spoof accounts.

Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) speaks with voters during an Election Night party in Hanford.(Photo: Sheyanne N Romero)

Shadow banning is the act of suppressing or burying online content so that it is effectively inaccessible to the public, without actually blocking or suspending a user's account.

Devin Nunes' Mom has since been suspended by Twitter.

Liz Mair, a political analyst with left-wing advocacy group Swamp Accountability Project, is the only human being named in the lawsuit. She told the Visalia Times-Delta that she had not been notified of any pending legal action against her and declined to comment further.

“Nunes endured an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life.”

Nunes nor Biss returned Times-Delta requests for comment. The lawsuit, also uploaded by Fox News, is not available in Virgina's online legal database. The document was uploaded but not stamped with a seal by any official government agency or court.

Typically, social media websites are exempt from defamation liability. Nunes' legal team argues, however, that Twitter is complicit in the defamation by "knowingly hosting and monetizing" abusive content on its service.

"Twitter knew the defamation was (and is) happening. Twitter let it happen because Twitter had (and has) a political agenda and motive," the legal briefing states. "Twitter allowed (and allows) its platform to serve as a portal of defamation in order to undermine public confidence in (Nunes) and to benefit his opponents and opponents of the Republican Party."

Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), left, leads a panel discussion on water with attorney Gary Sawyers, Victor Davis Hanson, writer/director Ray McNally and radio host Ray Appleton before the premier of “Dead Harvest,” at the Fox Theatre in Visalia on Thursday, November 12, 2015 The documentary chronicles the effects of the lack of water for farmland in the Valley.(Photo: Ron Holman)

Last November, Nunes faced the toughest political battle of his 16-year career against Democratic upstart Andrew Janz. While Nunes defeated the Fresno prosecutor by a five-point margin, it was the closest any challenger had come to toppling the congressman since his first 2002 campaign.

Nunes' lawsuit now attributes the close race to Twitter, as well.

"Nunes endured an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life,” it reads. “Unlike prior elections, where Nunes won by sweeping majorities, Nunes won on November 6, 2018 by a much narrower margin, receiving 52.7 percent of the 222,379 votes.”

Despite Nunes' apparent anger with Twitter, the Tulare native is a frequent user of the social media site. His recent tweets about California barring full-service restaurants from handing out plastic straws unless the diner requests one drew thousands of comments and retweets.

Joshua Yeager covers water, agriculture, parks and housing for the Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @VTD_Joshy. Get alerts and keep up on all things Tulare County for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.